The end of Google Plus as we know it

Google Plus

Last year, Google announced that they were shutting down the consumer version of Google+ (also known as Google Plus) from August 2019. The consumer version are the personal accounts available to individuals and not corporations. The reason that Google gave us was that it had not performed as well as a consumer product as they had hoped and the demands of consumers were difficult to maintain. Towards the end of 2018, Google discovered a second API bug during their own internal audit which they subsequently fixed. They have no evidence that anyone exploited this and that anybody was affected. They

The Product Manager Skills and Roles



Why does no-one comment on my blog posts?


I was asked recently why a site was not getting any comments on its blog posts and what follows is my explanation back to him with some ideas of why that is and what to do about. I ran a blog between 2008 and 2011 where I allowed unlimited comment time and apart from one or two that had shared the same experience as me, all I got was SPAM (people posting links to their own sites – malicious or otherwise). I spent ages moderating it so this time around when I started my blog in 2014, I banned comments

The role of the Product Management in Technology


Back in 2011, I was asked by my boss at the time what I saw as the role of the Product manager because he wanted to establish that role within our technology department. I did indeed become a product manager at the start of the following year. In this short article, I will share with you what we did and how it was received. The first thing I said in August 2011 when asked what I thought the role of the product manager should be in our business (a business services company relying heavily on technology) must have impressed my

What do I need to do to get a company web presence?

Domain Hosting

As the New Year gets underway, I have been contacted quite a few times by people who are interested in domain names, email addresses and websites but they don’t know where to start. Perhaps a lot of people are starting new businesses in 2016 or maybe those running new businesses have realised that they need a web presence to compete regardless of the industry. What is a domain name? Why do I need hosting? What do I need to do to set up a company email address or a website? In this article I cover the minimum you need to

Why driving traffic to your website should be your marketing plan

Money Tree

Anyone that conducts any sort of business now-a-days must have an internet presence. You will not survive or grow (the aim of any successful business) without providing a place online for people to find you. Most people looking to engage with the services you offer or to purchase the products that you sell will do some sort of research online. They will use a search engine directly; they will find a link on another website, an email or get a recommendation from one of social media friends. They could also arrive at your website by finding your domain name on

Avoiding the spam filters for legitimate email campaigns

Email Filters

Sending a marketing campaign by email is very easy, very cheap and a very effective method of communicating your message. However, because the sending of unsolicited email (spam) has been so rife in the past, some legitimate email campaigns can get lost in a spam filter. So what is there to help? In this article we have twelve tips for you to help get your email campaigns to the intended recipient’s inbox. Double opt-in subscribersIf your mailing list is derived from people signing up to your newsletter online then always use double opt-in. Double opt-in will send an email to

Why your website needs search engine friendly optimisation (SEFO)

Search Results

In this article I will explain what the search engines are looking for and what they don’t want to see. I will then show you how to get started on your way to search engine friendly optimisation for your website. I see quite a few websites that don’t even have the basics that would help search engines to index their site properly and others that go over the top. Both approaches will be bad for your business so you need the right balance. Google and other internet search providers are constantly tweaking their search algorithms in pursuit of the best

What’s the fuss about Google Plus

Google Plus

Google+ can be considered the social media side of Google but it is much more than that. They have been developing and fine tuning it for quite a while now and although I’m no social media guru and have only been using Google+ for a few months, I must say, I’m impressed. It seems they have taken all the best bits from all other social media solutions and come up with the best of all worlds. However, Google+ is not just superior as social media; it is a collaboration platform of Google tools and applications all in one place. It’s